It's such a shame; I've been following Alex's work for years now. It was his podcasts (specifically Planet Money) which got me into podcasts in the first place. Now it looks like he sold up to let his company die at Spotify.
I hope that we'll hear the full story eventually and, of course, that this will prove to be a move for the better.
Why is it a shame? I've been a listener of Gimlet since the start as well and Alex has always come off as genuine and hard working. If I lived closer, I would have loved to work for him. Its rare you find leaders with that type of transparency and candor. Most CEOs speak utter bullshit and so over-confident its laughable. While I don't know him personally and what he's like off-air, I can't help but feel genuinely happy. People should be rewarded for their successes, otherwise no one would innovate and take risks.
I bet dollars to dimes that they will cover it in a podcast and that podcast will be exclusive to Spotify.
I would predict they keep doing 'Startup' as-is with its focus on other companies, and launch 'Acquisition' (or whatever) as an exclusive with excerpts of it in 'Startup'.
They kinda have to if they want it to appear that things will be business as usual with a new owner. Since Startup was the first Gimlet podcast and set the tone for the company and lineup, ignoring a story that would fit it so well would totally ruin that tone.
I hope that we'll hear the full story eventually and, of course, that this will prove to be a move for the better.